Dateless
by Microsuede Mouse
Summary: Victoria announces she's going to prom without a date in order to escape Teddy, and Laney decides to do the same. Shortly afterward, she learns that Eric was finally going to swallow his pride and ask Victoria to go with him, so Laney does everything she can to set them up. But then she realises that she spent all of her prom focused on other people's happiness.


Uh hey hi. Been a bit since I was here.

I was rereading some of my old fic a few weeks ago, including WUW stuff, and this idea occurred to me, so I... wrote it. That's all there is to it I guess! Hope you like it. Take a second to leave a review if you can, it's always much appreciated.

Cheers.

* * *

"Watch out down that way," Charlie warned, impulsively jerking his controller to the left as he navigated around several obstacles onscreen. "There's a bunch of booby traps. Have you decided anything about prom yet?"

"Thanks," Eric muttered absently, squinting as he searched for the tiny giveaways that revealed the traps. "And I dunno, not really."

"That doesn't sound convincing," Charlie answered, raising his eyebrows. "Come on, surely you're going to ask her."

Eric spared his friend the briefest of dirty looks. "Who?" he asked accusingly.

"Victoria," Charlie said, rolling his eyes. "Don't act like it's not obvious. I may be a little oblivious sometimes but I _know_ you, Eric."

Eric frowned deeply, biting his tongue as he mowed through a horde of aliens. That done, he lowered his controller to his lap for a moment and gave Charlie another look. "Don't rush me."

"Don't rush you?" Charlie asked sceptically. "Eric, we graduate high school in two and a half months. And you've been nursing this for _years_."

Eric made an offended noise. "You only caught on, what, maybe a year ago?"

"Doesn't mean I couldn't recognize a lot of things in retrospect," Charlie pointed out. "Hey, get over here. These guys are gonna slaughter me."

Eric huffed and picked up his controller again, sprinting to Charlie's aid. They were quiet for a while, focussing on the game. Then, eventually, he admitted, "I was considering it."

It had been almost ten minutes of silence, but Charlie understood the comment. "Good. You should. It's overdue."

"You think she'd say yes?" Eric asked, making a face.

"Yeah, probably," Charlie answered.

Eric chewed his tongue for a minute, thinking. Then he shifted topic. "Well, what are _you_ doing for prom?"

"Oh. Well, I figured I'd ask Laney," Charlie responded, as if that were fairly obvious. And it was, Eric supposed. It had probably been overly optimistic to assume he could embarrass Charlie back like that. Charlie had never actually told Eric how he felt about Laney, but Eric understood him well enough to tell that he was in fact quite straightforward about his feelings, even if he never stated them explicitly.

"I heard Myron was going to ask her," Eric commented idly. It wasn't a jab; he knew Laney didn't especially care for Myron. He was just making conversation at this point.

"Yeah, me too," Charlie said with a nod. "But then the next day I heard he'd asked Alice, and she said yes. So no big deal."

"Huh." Eric tipped his head to one side. "Myron and Alice. I guess that makes sense. Two totally different brands of nerd, but not incompatible, I s'pose."

"Right?" Charlie agreed. "I was surprised. But someone showed me pictures, so it's real, I guess."

"Pictures?" Eric asked.

"Mm. He did like, a whole big thing. Flowers and stuff. Watch your left."

Eric swung his character out of the way of oncoming danger. "Thanks. Flowers, huh?" He paused. "You think I should get flowers?"

"Probably wouldn't hurt," Charlie said with a shrug. "Go to the place on James. The one by the craft store? They do a bunch of community projects. Victoria loves them."

"Good thought," Eric agreed. There was another pause, then he sighed heavily. "I can't believe I'm really considering this," he muttered.

x

"Nine o'clock, Victoria," Charlie muttered across the lunch table.

She frowned. "Charlie, it's twelve-thirty-" she started to say, but he glanced meaningfully to his right, and she caught on. "Teddy?" she hissed, stiffening.

Charlie nodded, and Laney leaned forward to glance past Victoria in the direction Charlie had indicated. "Oh, boy," she said quietly, turning her gaze quickly back to her food. "This is gonna be A Lot. Brace yourself."

"Maybe I could escape," Victoria whispered.

Eric shook his head. "No time now," he said. "He has a-"

Eric didn't even get to finish his sentence before the barber shop quartet Teddy had hired began to sing. Victoria winced, just in time to be showered with rose petals. Laney slid her chair away a few inches, brushing a few of them off her shoulder, while Victoria stared down unhappily at the petals that had landed in her mashed potatoes.

" _Victoria_ ," Teddy began dramatically, holding out an absurdly large bouquet of velvety roses. "I wish to ask you to attend this year's promenade on my arm."

Victoria made a face, slowly flicking stray petals off her clothes. "I'd rather not," she answered quietly.

"Please, Victoria, I request that you hear me out," Teddy insisted. "I've prepared quite a… _prom-posal_ …" The word seemed distasteful in his mouth. "…for you to consider. If you wouldn't mind accompanying me outside…" He leaned forwards, adding excitedly, "I've hired a skywriter."

"You know, Teddy," Victoria said, getting to her feet and sweeping yet more petals out of her hair, "that all sounds, you know, just lovely, but I'm afraid I have to decline."

"How come?" Teddy demanded, too quickly. "Have you agreed to go with someone _else?_ I can take care of that, you know."

"No, no, nothing like that," she told him, glancing around the room as she desperately searched for an excuse. She looked at the other A/V club members, biting her lip as she thought, and then something seemed to occur to her. "I've just, um, you know, I've decided to go alone. As… as a feminist statement." She looked to Teddy again, more confident with every word. "Yes. Because, you know, a woman's value isn't defined by her ability to attract a man. I find the whole concept of girls waiting to be asked to prom, of prom supposedly being 'no fun' without a date, completely contemptible." She was nodding, as if agreeing with herself as she spoke – which she probably was, given that she was making all of this up on the spot. "I'm going to prom alone as a statement that women can and _should_ be just as happy and just as successful independently as with a man. And that we don't need men or romance to complete parts of our lives that can be just as fulfilling on their own." She had her hands on her hips now, pleased with this story she had just concocted out of thin air.

Teddy blinked. "That's silly," he complained after a moment, frowning.

"See? The fact that you think so is just proof that the cause matters," Victoria answered. "Women need to be taken seriously on their own, not just when they have men around to validate them. Right Laney?" She glanced over her shoulder at the younger girl.

Swept up in the moment, Laney jumped to her feet. "Exactly!" she agreed with an emphatic nod. "Which is why I'm going alone, as well!"

Victoria furrowed her brows for a second, concerned that she had accidentally caught Laney up in this half-baked and impromptu pledge to feminism, but then she shook away her worry and faced Teddy resolutely once again. "So, you see, I can't accept your offer."

Teddy frowned, pulling back the bouquet of flowers he was still holding out. "Well all right then," he said, sounding perturbed. He turned and gestured at his butler, who waved the barber shop quartet – still singing softly – out of the cafeteria as Teddy left.

Victoria sank back into her seat, letting out a long breath. "Hoo boy," she muttered.

"Hey, but I'm excited about this cool statement you're making," Laney told her, scooting her chair back in. "It's a good cause!"

Victoria shifted to glance sideways at Laney from where she rested her face in her hands. "I made it up on the spot to get out of going with Teddy," she said, just to be clear. "I have to commit to it now, but _you_ don't."

Laney smiled and shook her head. "No, I think it works better if it's more than one person! Besides, I don't think anyone was gonna ask me anyway." She flicked a rose petal off the top of her water bottle and took a sip. "Do you think we can get anyone else in on it? I know it was, like, a spur-of-the-moment idea, but it's far from your worst. We could spin it as something you had actually already thought of, I bet. Make it a whole thing. I mean, it totally works. The culture built up around prom _is_ kind of skewed."

Victoria groaned. "I dunno. A lot of girls have a lot of fun with it. I don't actually wanna rain on everyone's parade. You only get one prom."

"Not raining on everyone's parade? Look at that, you're growing as a person," Eric joked. His grin looked sour, though. He wiped his mouth on a napkin, threw it back into his lunch bag, and got up. "I gotta go. I'll see you guys later."

Charlie and Laney watched him leave, walking a little too fast. Laney looked at Charlie in concern. ' _Is he okay?_ ' she mouthed across the table.

Charlie made a face and shrugged. ' _He'll be fine,_ ' he mouthed back.

x

"Laney, is this all of our announcements for tomorrow morning?" Victoria asked, shuffling through the stack of index cards on the news desk.

"Yeah, unless something comes in overnight," Laney answered. "Why, is something missing?"

"Well, no," Victoria said slowly. "I dunno, I was just surprised. It's a small pile. Gonna be a short show."

"You should mention your whole feminist prom statement thingy," Eric said idly, not looking up from his notebook. He sat on one end of the sofa, back against the arm and knees up in front of him, a pen in his mouth and his notes propped up in his lap.

"What?" Victoria asked, looking up at him in surprise.

"You know," he said, taking the pen out of his mouth and waving it vaguely. As far as Charlie could tell, Eric hadn't met Victoria's eye all afternoon. "Your thing. Get other people in on it. Like Laney said."

"Are you… being sarcastic?" Victoria asked slowly, narrowing her eyes.

"No, for once I'm not," Eric answered. He made a change to something on his page. "It's a perfectly good idea, Victoria. Worth sharing."

"I thought you said I'd be 'raining on everyone's parade,'" she said, with air quotes. She was clearly confused by his behaviour.

"No." He shook his head, still staring at his notebook. "I said you were growing as a person, because _you_ said you didn't want to rain on everyone's parade. That hasn't always stopped you. But you don't _have_ to rain on everyone's parade. You don't have to force anyone into it. Just mention that it's a thing you're doing. I'm sure Laney's not the only girl in this place who'd like the idea."

Victoria squinted at him. "I don't understand what you're doing."

"I'm trying to be supportive, Victoria," Eric said with a sigh.

Laney caught Charlie's eye from across the studio, and he slid over to her side. "What's up?" he asked softly, reaching over to adjust the light she'd been fiddling with while she tried not to stare at the other two.

"That's my question," she whispered back. "Eric is acting really weird, what is going _on?_ "

Charlie grimaced. "I'll tell you in the car," he said.

Half an hour later, Laney slid into the passenger side of Charlie's second-hand sedan and turned to face him while he fumbled with his keys. "So what _was_ all that?" she asked. "Eric was like, _super_ weird, _all_ afternoon. And not like, normal weird…"

Charlie turned the ignition and thanked his lucky stars that, once again, the engine had started without complaint. He fully expected the ancient car, which he had inherited when his grandfather's license was revoked, to fall apart underneath him one of these days. He reached back to retrieve his seatbelt. "Well," he said slowly, "Eric was maybe-kinda-probably going to ask Victoria to prom."

"What?" Laney gasped. "For real? He was actually going to finally-?"

"Mhm," Charlie answered, nodding and offering a tight-lipped smile as he looked over his shoulder and backed out of his parking spot.

"Wow," she muttered. "Damn. Poor Eric. So that explains why he left in such a rush at lunch, but then just now…" She thumbed back towards the school over one shoulder, still thinking.

"I think," he said, changing gears and gliding out of the parking lot, "That in the face of defeat, Eric was really just… giving up on the whole mortal-enemies thing and trying to be a supportive friend."

She blinked, raising her eyebrows. "Jeez. Never thought I'd see the day."

"I know, right?" he agreed. "Figured I'd still be listening to their bickering on their wedding day."

"Oh, we will," Laney laughed. "Don't you worry about that. I expect this is only a temporary hiatus." She paused, smile fading. "But I'll be honest, I thought I'd see pigs fly before the day Eric gave in."

"Oh, pigs _do_ fly, Laney," Charlie assured her, glancing sideways. "You won't see it on the news, but the winged pigs _do_ exist. They just don't want you to know about it."

Laney giggled and rested her head against her hand, elbow on the windowsill. They were quiet for a moment, and Charlie turned the radio on, low enough so that they could still talk, but just a little sound to fill the silence. After a minute or two she glanced over again and said, "Why would Eric give in on a lifetime of rivalry over this? I mean, it's been _years_. Doesn't seem like him."

"If you ask me," he answered slowly, "he feels like it's over." He pulled up to a stop sign, glanced both ways, turned. "I mean, those two have been doing the enemies thing for as long as I've known them. It got more serious sometime mid-middle school, and then more kind of… frenemies-ish in the last couple of years, but it's always been a thing. But we're graduating in June, and Victoria's headed north in September. I mean, she promises she'll visit the three of us, but she won't be around. We're all staying local, she's heading off on a train. I think he figures he's missed his shot."

She looked heartbroken. "Oh, no," she said sadly. "I hate to think that."

"Yeah, me too," Charlie said with a shrug. "But I'm pretty sure that's where he's at right now."

"There must be something we can do," she said.

"I dunno. Maybe. Gonna give him a day or two first, though. Eric usually prefers space when he's really bummed out." Charlie turned another corner and slowed down. "In the meantime, though, I have once again successfully gotten you home."

"Thanks Charlie," Laney said with a smile. She hoisted her bag over her shoulder and stepped out of the car, leaning back down before she shut the door. "See you tomorrow."

"You bet," he told her with a grin and a wave. He watched her walk up the driveway and dig in her bag for her keys, a thoughtful expression on his face, his fingers drumming against the wheel. It had become normal for the two of them, him giving her a lift home after their after-school meetings in the A/V studio. She only lived a few streets away from him, so it made sense. And it was a nice few minutes they spent alone together every day. Charlie had come to really enjoy it.

Laney let herself into the house, and when the door shut behind her, he pulled out of the driveway and headed home.

x

Laney hated the idea that with prom out of the picture, Eric had given up on Victoria just as he'd finally gotten the courage to make a real move. So she set about immediately making a plan, in the hopes of things working out.

She was clever, and by sixteen years old she'd grown a little and learned to be sneaky. Not terribly – she still wasn't a good liar, and tended to be too obvious when she tried to lead a conversation – but enough to manage what she was trying to do now. Prom was still a month out, which gave her time to work things out naturally.

"So have you got a dress for prom yet?" she pestered Victoria. That part was easy; she knew Victoria loved to talk clothes with her.

"No, not yet," Victoria said with a grin, "but there's one I've got my eye on."

"Do you have pictures?" Laney asked excitedly.

Victoria nodded and pulled out her phone. "This one. Think I could pull it off? It's _so_ pretty."

"Yes, oh my gosh," Laney agreed excitedly. "Victoria, it's gorgeous. That emerald green? Amazing on you. Please buy it!"

"You think?" Victoria asked. "I'll have to go try it on, of course…"

"I'll go with you!"

Then came Eric; he wasn't too hard either. Laney just waited for the conversation to come up – she knew it would. "Charlie, where are you going for your suit? My dad's don't fit me anymore, I gotta rent," he said one day. Victoria was elsewhere, busy with some kind of class president business; that wasn't uncommon these days. It was a busy time of year.

"My mom mentioned some place downtown she said was pretty good. I was gonna go check it out this weekend," Charlie answered. "You wanna come?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Eric agreed with a nod.

"Hard to imagine you in a suit," Laney said with a grin. "And a tie? I'll have to take pictures."

"Ah, damn, I forgot about ties," Eric admitted. "I'll have to find one of those, too."

"What colour are you going with?" Laney asked casually.

"Not a clue," he said with a shrug. "Why? You got any recommendations, Brainy Laney?"

She had to repress a smile; he was practically handing it to her. "Hmm," she paused, chewing her lip as she ostensibly considered the question. "I'm picturing green. Something dark and rich? Like an emerald shade. It would suit you."

"Duly noted," he told her with a small laugh.

"How about me?" Charlie asked. "Any thoughts?"

Laney gave him a smile. "Oh, Charlie, you wear bright colours all the time, and they all look great on you. You could pull off anything that caught your fancy. Jewel tones especially."

"Aw," he said with a grin. "Too kind."

That taken care of, Laney set about the general business of prom planning. The four of them, tight-knit by now (despite Victoria's and Eric's rivalry), were planning on going together. Charlie would drive them if his car didn't give out by then, so that was covered; Laney signed them up for a table together, quietly asking the organizers if they'd consider seating them as far as possible from Teddy. Morgan, a girl who'd had a couple of classes with Laney and Victoria and knew the situation, nodded and promised to do her best.

The next task she gave herself came about unplanned. It hadn't occurred to her ahead of time, but when it came up, she felt obliged to deal with it. "I'm not a bad dancer. Right Laney? You've danced with me. Tell him," Charlie said, pointing accusingly at his best friend.

"All guys are bad dancers," Eric argued, looking put out.

Laney looked at him in surprise. "No, Charlie's a great dancer. And a quick learner. I taught him the Charleston a couple years ago, he caught on fast." She snapped her fingers, then paused and looked at Eric's grumpy expression. "Eric, can you not dance?"

He frowned at her for a moment, then broke. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do!" he complained, spreading his hands. "Where do your hands go? Where do your feet go? Nobody knows."

Laney put a hand over her mouth for a second, exasperated. It had never occurred to her that Eric couldn't manage a simple slow dance. Then she sighed and stood. "All right. Get up," she told him.

"What?" he asked, looking up at her in surprise from where he was sprawled on the studio couch.

She grabbed his arm and hauled. "Get _up_ ," she said again. "I'm giving you a crash course in dancing. You've got to get through prom, at _least_."

"I don't have a date," he argued, letting her drag him to his feet. He glanced imploringly at Charlie, who leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and grinned. "Thanks to Victoria's feminist prom initiative. All the girls are going alone." He wasn't even committed to the excuse; he sounded apathetic at best.

Laney rolled her eyes. "You encouraged that," she reminded him. "Besides, we got like, _maybe_ twenty girls to sign on for that. Nice try, though." She knew he hadn't even tried to ask anyone else, but she humoured him, played along and pretended he was still making himself out to be a real ladies' man. "Anyway, not having a date doesn't mean you won't _dance_ with anyone. Charlie, can you find us some music?" she asked, glancing at the other boy as she positioned Eric's hand on her waist.

"You betcha," he said with a nod, heading for his computer.

Charlie found suitable music in no time, something nice and slow and good for teaching, but Eric stumbled and lost track of himself, unable to follow Laney's instructions while he was watching his feet. After he tripped up and staggered into her the third time, she sighed heavily and let go. "God, you're a mess," she told him. Then she turned and beckoned to the other boy. "Charlie, c'mere."

"What's up?" Charlie asked cheerfully, crossing the room to stand in front of her.

Laney took his hand and put her other on his shoulder. "Maybe if Eric can see someone else do it ahead of time, he'll have a better idea of what his feet should be doing."

"Ah, okay," he answered, falling easily into step with her as she began to dance, his free hand going to her waist.

"Damn, Laney, Charlie's like twice the size of you. Somehow I never noticed how big the difference was before," Eric pointed out.

"Watch his feet, doofus," Laney reminded him. Then, tossing an amused glance up at Charlie, she said, "He's the biggest of us and I'm the smallest, both by a pretty significant margin. I might still have one more growth spurt in me yet, though."

"I dunno," Charlie teased. "I kinda like you tiny."

She stuck her tongue out at him, making him laugh, and then turned to look at Eric. "See? In a really simple dance you don't even have to _do_ much with your feet. The classic high school slow dance mostly involves swaying and going in a slow circle. You can get away with not learning anything more than that, if it's really so difficult."

"Okay, but there's nothing for either of you to trip over when you leave room for Jesus like that," Eric argued, pointing at their feet and the space between them. "What about when things are cozier than bible camp?"

Charlie laughed, and Laney rolled her eyes and then tucked in close to him, closing the eight-inch gap. She leaned her head lightly against his chest and hummed along with the song under her breath. "See?" she asked, closing her eyes as they turned. "No tripping."

"Yeah, yeah," Eric muttered. He looked up from their feet and saw Charlie smiling fondly down at the top of Laney's head, and he grinned. "Seeing and doing are two different things, though."

"We'll try again," she told him. "…On the next song. Dancing with Charlie is nice. I don't get stepped on."

"I try," Charlie said with a little nod.

x

Eventually the night of prom rolled around, and Laney hoped everything would work as planned. Charlie's car pulled into the driveway and she slid into the back seat, Eric already in the front with Charlie. They had gone together earlier that afternoon to pick up their suits. The boys turned around to look at her outfit, smiling.

"You look cute, Laney," Eric told her with a grin.

"Thanks Eric!" she said, smoothing her violet skirt.

"The colour suits you perfectly," Charlie added.

"You guys are sweet," Laney answered. "Come on, let's go get Victoria."

Ten minutes later they all tumbled out of the car onto Victoria's driveway, her parents having been the ones who volunteered to take pictures of the four of them. Eric paused and looked Victoria up and down, somehow taken aback by her sleek emerald gown. The colour matched his tie almost perfectly, and Laney smiled to herself – she couldn't have asked for better luck.

"You look gorgeous, Victoria," she said, pulling the other girl into a hug.

"Thank you, Laney! You do too!"

The exchange seemed to jog Eric out of his thoughts; he cleared his throat. "You both look great," he said awkwardly.

"Thank you, Eric," Victoria said slowly. She gave him a quick once-over. Slate-grey suit, crisp white shirt, deep green tie and pocket square. "Nice tie."

"Thanks," he said absently, touching the knot. Then he blinked, tearing himself out of his reverie. "Yeah, uh, Laney had mentioned that green would be a good choice, and when Charlie's mom saw this one she told me I had to get it. Something about bringing out my eyes. I dunno." He offered a lopsided smile.

"She picked mine, too," Charlie said with a nod, adjusting his own tie proudly. The colour was somewhere between royal blue and purple, almost indigo. It went well with his darker grey suit. "She was pretty enthusiastic about it."

"She has good taste," Victoria said. "Come on, my parents can't wait to do those photos."

The four of them stood for a few group shots, Victoria's mom arranging them and her dad handling the camera. Mrs. Jagger insisted, then, on a couple pictures of the boys, and then of the girls. "Why stop there?" Laney asked as she took her arm back from around Victoria's waist. "I wouldn't mind a couple photos with each of the other two, as well. It can be nice to have pictures with individual friends…"

"That's a great idea!" Mrs. Jagger gushed. "Yes, Laney, I agree completely. You should all have pictures together." She reached out and grabbed Eric – standing closest to her at the time – and dragged him over to stand with Laney. Chuckling, he scooped his arm around her back and obliged.

After Eric, Laney got a couple photos with Charlie, Mrs. Jagger cooing the whole time over how good everyone looked together. After a couple nice shots standing side-by-side with their arms around one another, Charlie turned around and hauled Laney up onto his back, taking her by surprise. Victoria's dad grinned and managed to capture a couple candid photos of her laughing while Charlie piggybacked her across the lawn. After a couple of minutes, he put her down and patted her head fondly.

"Your turn, Victoria," he said, waving her over.

"I dunno, Charlie, my skirt's a lot longer than Laney's," she laughed as she came over.

"You can have boring _nice_ pictures, but only if we take fun ones too," he said, grinning. Then she yelped as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Her dad took a photo of her laughing and swatting his back, asking to be let down, and then a few of them standing side-by-side like nice polite people, since Victoria insisted.

"Now you," Laney said, nudging Eric's elbow. She _did_ like the idea of individual photos with everyone, but a couple shots of Eric and Victoria together had been her real goal. Charlie came and stood next to her, hands in his pockets and a contented smile on his face, as they watched Eric and Victoria put their arms around each other's waists. It was clear they were feeling a little awkward, even to Charlie, so he cracked a joke and Mr. Jagger managed to get his pictures while they were laughing. They looked great together, Laney noted happily. She didn't know how well her plan would really go, but she was glad to know she'd given it her best shot.

"All right, everybody," Charlie said as they finally wrapped up their photo session. "Let's get a move on."

The four of them climbed into his car again, Laney taking the driver's side backseat on a hunch. That turned out to be a good call; when they reached the venue a while later, Charlie and Eric both jumped out of their seats and went to open the girls' doors, just for the sake of politeness.

"Such gentlemen," Laney teased, playing along and letting Charlie offer her a hand out of her seat.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Victoria joked to Eric.

He grinned a little sheepishly. "Yeah, don't expect it to last."

The four of them headed inside together, presented their tickets, and found their table. Charlie sat first and Laney quickly grabbed the seat next to him, forcing Eric and Victoria to sit side-by-side. Dinner was delicious, and somehow they all managed to get through it without any squabbling whatsoever. Eric was on his best behaviour, which was something the other three had rarely seen. Charlie poached the remainder of Laney's dessert when she complained that she was full, and Eric didn't even object when Victoria nudged him and told him to wipe the food off his face. After dinner were the awards, which were kind of fun. Eric, to his delight, won the class clown award, and Victoria was more than honoured to accept the award for most involved.

After the awards was what everyone was really looking forward to – the dance.

Mostly, the four of them just danced together, goofing off amongst themselves and their classmates, singing along loudly to the year's biggest pop songs. Eventually, though, the first slower song rolled around. Laney glanced at Eric and saw him looking a little uncertain. She bumped his shoulder and held out a hand. "Refresher course?" she offered quietly, with a sweet smile. He laughed softly and accepted.

Laney and Eric headed onto the floor, and behind them Victoria grabbed Charlie's arm and dragged him along when she saw Teddy looking her way. Charlie seemed happy enough to oblige. Laney gave Eric a few pointers and gentle reminders under her breath while they danced, and he chuckled and did his best to follow along.

"Not half bad," she encouraged him. "Watch your feet. Confident footwork makes all the difference in the world."

"I'm trying," he muttered, smiling lopsidedly. "Not sure why you're working so hard at this."

"Because you're my friend," she said with a good-natured eyeroll. "And you should be able to get through a simple slow dance by eighteen years old."

"Yeah, yeah," he answered, but he was still grinning.

He seemed to have found his rhythm by the end of the song, and Laney patted his shoulder as the DJ switched back to something faster. "Not terrible. There's hope for you yet," she assured him.

Victoria caught Laney's hand playfully and started to dance with her as the next song picked up. "Are you trying to teach Eric to dance?" she asked, just loudly enough to be heard, sounding a little puzzled.

Laney laughed. "Yeah, I'm trying," she said.

"How bad is it?" Victoria giggled.

"He was pretty bad when we started," Laney admitted. "But he's not a lost cause. He'll get there eventually. Especially if I have any say in it."

"Why bother?" Victoria asked, still laughing. "Eric's had two left feet as long as I've known him."

"I suspect he just never cared," Laney said. "But I think by now he should be able to handle the simple stuff. Really no excuse. Besides, I think with the right partner, he _will_ care." Her eyes sparkled.

"Whatever you say," Victoria chuckled.

In the next few slow songs Laney waited patiently for Eric and Victoria to dance. It didn't seem _unreasonable_ that it could happen on its own – they were friends, after all. She sat out the next one, but then Eric decided to do the same and Victoria accepted a dance with someone from the student council. Then Eric danced with a girl he knew from the improv club and Victoria, somewhat awkwardly, agreed to dance with Money Melvin. Then Victoria danced with Charlie again and Eric with someone from his English class.

Laney started watching for a way to give them a nudge, tired of waiting. Finally the opportunity arose – she was standing near them as the song changed again and she was able to lean over to Victoria and point across the room.

"Teddy has been eyeballing you for a bit," she murmured. "And he very much looks like he's coming this way again."

Victoria cursed under her breath, turning around as if that might prevent Teddy from seeing her. "Where's Charlie?"

"Bathroom," Laney answered.

Victoria made a frustrated noise and then reached out to grab Eric, the closest person to her. "Uh, hey," he said, confused.

" _Dance_ ," Victoria told him.

"What?"

"Teddy alert," Laney supplied.

"So make it look good," Victoria added.

"Right." Eric positioned his hands awkwardly, putting on a smile. "Okay. Dancing. I guess this isn't awful."

"You've been dancing with people all evening," Victoria pointed out through a big fake smile.

"None of them were you," he pointed out, his own grin just as stiff.

"I didn't have much choice," she said. "Time was limited."

"Yeah, well," Eric grumbled, glancing away, "I guess you're lucky I'm always willing to do this for you."

Victoria faltered, phony smile fading a little. "I guess so."

"Okie dokie!" Laney said. "I'm gonna go sit down. You two try to look less wooden or Teddy's totally gonna catch on." With that she slipped away and sat down while they tried to force themselves a little closer together.

Laney watched with a smile as, over the course of a minute or so, Victoria and Eric both began to relax. Victoria said something with an amused smile; Eric rolled his eyes and glanced down at the floor, hiding a grin. His hand shifted on her waist, just slightly. She could read their lips a little and fill in the blanks pretty easily: ' _You're not such a bad dancer after all, Eric.' 'Yeah, well… Laney's not such a bad teacher, I guess.'_

Gen and Lee got between Laney and the co-anchors for a moment, and she watched them instead. Gen had been one of the handful of girls who had signed the no-date feminist prom pledge, but she looked pretty damn pleased to be dancing with Lee. Frankly, he looked happy too. Laney smiled again, charmed to see her classmates having such a good time. Her gaze swept across the dance floor; it was filled with content couples, about half of whom Laney knew to be dating. Her smile started to fade, and she bit her lip, glancing down at her lap.

She had enjoyed coming up with her little plan and all its details, putting time into getting Eric and Victoria closer together. Of course, her plan could only take them so far, and at some point it would be up to them to close the gap, but she was glad to have done what she could. That said, it was striking her now that her whole prom experience had been about them before herself. She hadn't expected a lot for herself out of prom, besides just some fun with her friends and her peers, but she was starting to worry now that maybe she was missing something.

' _So, um,'_ she made out on Eric's lips when she glanced back up. _'I was going to talk to you about something, but…'_ Part of her wanted to stay for that, but then he shook his head. _'Never mind. It's nothing.'_ Then he was quiet, and she couldn't just sit and watch. There was a weird feeling building in the pit of her stomach and she wanted a moment's quiet.

"Stuffy in here. I'm going to go get a breath of fresh air," she said quietly to no one in particular, surrounded mostly by empty chairs. Shouldering her purse, she headed towards the lobby and then out the front doors.

Charlie, emerging from the bathroom, saw her go past. He paused in his path, glanced at the dance floor briefly, then turned to follow her. He found her just outside the doors, standing on the long landing on either side of which stairs led down to the lawn, leaning against the railing.

"Hey you," he greeted, going to lean next to her. "What's up?"

"Oh! Charlie!" She seemed startled, as if she'd been deep in thought. "I just… needed some air. I'll be back in in a minute."

"No rush," he assured her. He looked out across the lawn, towards a fountain surrounded by benches and hedges. "Nice night."

"Yeah," she answered slowly. "Don't even need a jacket, really. Weather's lovely."

"New moon, temperate weather, low winds. Perfect conditions for troll activity, you know," he pointed out. He glanced at her sideways and saw her crack a smile. "Really! They love it like this. Don't go into the deep shadows, and watch out for bridges."

She swayed left and leaned her shoulder against his, just slightly. "I'll keep it in mind."

"You'd better." He smiled. "So how do you feel about prom?"

"Good," she answered automatically. There was a long pause while she seemed to be holding her breath, and then she added more quietly, "I guess."

Charlie looked at her. "You guess?"

She shrugged, glancing down. "I mean…" Another long hesitation. "I just- I just seem to have spent so much time planning for Eric and Victoria, and kind of pushing them together, hoping they'd take the chance and do something… that now it kind of seems like I spent my prom alone. I didn't think that would bother me at all but it does, a bit."

"I wondered what you were up to." He paused, but she stayed quiet. "Well," he continued, "I'm proud of you for sticking to your politics. It's a good statement."

Laney laughed slightly. "I didn't really care that much to begin with," she admitted. "I just got swept up in the moment and Victoria's speech. You know - like I always do. Like… it is a good point, a good statement to make. And it seemed easy to do. But I really never felt that strongly about it, personally."

"Oh," he answered, staring out across the lawn again. "Because I was going to ask you, but then you seemed really enthusiastic, so I figured I wouldn't."

"What?" She stood up straight and her head snapped around to face him. "Why?"

He glanced up at her, eyebrows raised in mild surprise. "Well, out of respect, I guess," he started to reply, but she shook her head.

"No, I meant - I meant why ask me?" she clarified.

Now he smiled. "Aw, 'cause I like you, Laney."

She blinked. "You do?"

Charlie straightened up and turned to face her. "Yeah, I do," he said simply, still smiling.

"Like me… how?" she asked, somewhere in the no man's land between embarrassed, confused, nervous, suspicious, and excited.

He laughed a little. "I dunno. Like Eric likes Victoria, I guess. Like a boy likes a girl, or sometimes a boy, or other times a girl likes a girl, or… you know." He didn't look away from her face. "I just like you, Laney, a whole lot. I've never really made any big secret about it."

Now Laney bit down on a smile, expression settling on half excited and half embarrassed. "I didn't realize," she admitted quietly. For a moment they stood and smiled at each other. Then she asked, "Charlie, do you wanna go dance?"

"Yeah," he answered. "That sounds good." He offered her an open hand, and she took it a little nervously. His big fingers wrapped easily around hers, and he began to lead her inside. Teddy stormed out past them, looking furious, as they crossed the lobby.

"What's with him?" Laney wondered aloud, glancing over her shoulder as he passed. Charlie stopped walking in the door between the lobby and the hall and pointed, grinning.

"Maybe that."

She looked up just in time to see Eric and Victoria pull out of a kiss, and Victoria lay her head on Eric's shoulder. Beaming, she told him, "Wow, that worked out a lot better than I'd hoped for."

They stood there and watched for a moment as Eric and Victoria both fought hard to wipe the smiles off their faces and replace them with suitably annoyed frowns, but it wasn't working well. Then Charlie began to walk again, giving Laney's hand a tug. "C'mon."

He pulled her out onto the dance floor and they joined the dance as a new song came on. She leaned into him easily, fighting down butterflies in her stomach but somehow feeling like it was all very natural at the same time. Charlie was calm, and that made it easier. When she thought about it, in spite of his excitability, he had been one of the most stable presences in her life for four straight years now, and she _was_ really fond of him. Sometimes she had wondered if she was fonder than friendly, but mostly she had tried not to think about it. The fact was, though, that knowing he liked her made her spirits soar, and that probably counted for something.

They spun over close to Eric and Victoria so Charlie could pester them. Smiling broadly, he commented, "You two look happy."

"We're not," they both answered, working hard to frown.

"You're still dancing," Laney pointed out, a little smugly.

"I hate it," Eric told her.

"No you don't," she replied.

"It's awful," Victoria complained.

"Then stop," Charlie said. They didn't.

"Laney," Eric started, narrowing his eyes at her, "how much of this did you do on purpose?"

"Oh, all of it," she assured him, giggling. "And probably some things you didn't notice, too."

"You're the worst," he informed her. Then, peering at her a moment longer, he begrudgingly added, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said with a smile. She looked at Victoria. "He was going to ask you, before your whole feminist statement thing, you know."

"Oh, he told me all about it," Victoria admitted, a smirk breaking through her frown. "You think I'd kiss this goblin without a good reason?"

Ignoring the insult, Eric frowned deeper at Laney. "But how do _you_ know about it?" he demanded.

"I told her," Charlie confessed, smiling still.

"What! You-" Eric cut himself off and took a breath. Then he turned to Laney again. "Well, _he_ was going to ask _you_."

"I know," Laney answered. She tried to keep her cool like Charlie did, but she felt her cheeks start to heat up, and, biting down on an enormous smile, she turned and hid her face against Charlie's chest for a moment. She let go of his hand so that she could hide her face further, and he laughed and lowered his free hand to her waist.

"We had a chat outside," he said simply to the other two.

"Aw, Laney!" Victoria said, unable to stay grumpy now. "Are you guys telling me the whole warthog news team got wrapped up together the same night? At _prom?_ That's too cute to be real."

"Kind of gross, actually," Eric muttered, pulling a face.

"We didn't get _that_ far in our chat," Charlie laughed as Laney's hands went over her face, even while she was still pressed into his chest.

"Oops." Victoria's smile widened. "Eric, should we give them a minute?"

"I think we should," he said, grinning now that he saw a chance for revenge. The two of them swirled away, giving Charlie and Laney some space.

Charlie continued to dance slowly on the spot, his hands on Laney's waist, apparently unperturbed. He waited patiently until she finally emerged, pulling away from him a little and putting her hands shyly back on his shoulders, looking down a little.

"Hey," he greeted simply.

"Hi," she answered.

"How ya doin'?"

"I'm all right," she said. She paused briefly, then, "Well, I mean, I'm pretty good." She chanced a glance up at him, still nervous and a little embarrassed. He was smiling calmly.

"So, about what they were saying," he started. She looked down again. "I mean, we didn't really get that far. But, you know. I _did_ tell you how much I like you."

"I… I really like you too, Charlie," she said quietly, more to his chest than his face. "I mean… I have for a while, but I mostly ignored it, I think."

"That's okay," he told her. "There's no rush."

"So, um…" she trailed off, not really sure where to go from there.

He could tell she was uncertain, so he pushed forward a little. "So, if you wanted to be my girlfriend, that would be cool," he suggested gently. "But only if you want to."

She hesitated for just a second, then nodded, unable to hold back her grin. "Yeah, I'd like that," she told him.

"Me too," he agreed, pulling her just a smidgeon closer in a sort of hug, even though they were still dancing. For a few moments they were quiet. Then he said, "Hey, Laney?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I kiss you?" He was being so sweet. "Again, only if you want."

Laney bit her lip, then pulled away to look up at him. "Yeah."

Smiling, Charlie lifted one hand up to gently lift her chin and kiss her, quick and soft. For a moment they both just smiled, hard, and then Laney's hands slid from his shoulders to his neck and she pulled him down to kiss him again.

Nearby, Victoria let out a quiet cheer and Eric started to laugh.


End file.
